Gang of 100 Phishers Charged in U.S., Egypt

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Gang of 100 Phishers Charged in U.S., Egypt

A gang of more than 100 alleged phishers has been charged in the U.S. and Egypt in connection with a global scheme to steal bank credentials of victims and siphon money from their accounts.

A total of 53 defendants (.pdf) ranging in ages 18 to 44 are charged in a thickindictment (.pdf) unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Los Angeles. An additional person is being charged at the state level, and another 47 alleged co-conspirators have been charged in Egypt.

The indictment is the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year investigation, dubbed Operation Phish Phry.

The suspects in Egypt allegedly sent bogus e-mails purporting to be legitimate correspondence from the victims' banks, urging the victims to update their online banking records. The e-mails referred recipients to a fake bank website under the criminals' control, which prompted the victims for an account number and password.

Authorities allege that the U.S. ringleaders – named as Kenneth Joseph Lucas, 25, Nichole Michelle Merzi, 24, and Jonathan Preston Clark, 25 – recruited people to set up bank accounts at Bank of America and Wells Fargo. The gang members in Egypt would then access the victim accounts and initiate wire transfers to siphon funds to the receiving accounts. Once the money was withdrawn from these accounts, it was transmitted by wire service to gang members in Egypt, minus a portion kept for the U.S. participants.

“This international phishing ring had a significant impact on two banks and caused huge headaches for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of bank customers," said Acting United States Attorney George S. Cardona in a statement.

The indictment doesn't indicate how much money the gang stole. But FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says that authorities have so far identified $1.5 million that the gang transferred from victim accounts. Not all of that money was successfully withdrawn from the receiving accounts by the criminals. In some cases, she said, the banks discovered the fraudulent transfers and halted the funds before they could be withdrawn.

The 51-count indictment charges the U.S. defendants with unauthorized access to computers, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering. Each of the 53 U.S. defendants is charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. Some of them are also charged with the various additional counts.